Saturday, December 4, 2010

Karen Silkwood was a hard working woman who only wanted what was best for the people she loved and herself. Silkwood worked for Kerr-McGee, a company that created plutonium rods for nuclear reactors. While working at Kerr-McGee, Karen Silkwood discovered that the company was engaging in unethical behaviors that risked the lives of all its employees. I think that stories like this are disturbing no matter how fuzzy or blatant the facts are. But I also think that stories like this can be the basis of a great debate; when instances like this arise I am at a loss as to who can we trust to look out for people and the environment safety. Silkwood could not count on her union or the company. I wonder if the decades since the Silkwood debacle have brought will change in corporate accountability, or are things still the same?

Friday, October 29, 2010

Temperate deciduous forests are found in the middle latitudes around the globe and have four distinct seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.During the fall, trees change color and then lose their leaves. This is in preparation for the winter season. Because it gets so cold, the trees have adapted to the winter by going into a period of dormancy.

A forest has many layers of plant life. There are the small plants such as shrubs, moss, ferns, and lichens which grow quietly beneath the shadows of the tall trees.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Every woman alive today received her mitochondria from her mother. If we trace the passage of the mitochondria back one generation to the mothers, we have fewer women than today. If we trace back another generation, we find an even smaller number, and with each previous generation this number decreases. Eventually this traces back to a single woman from whom all women alive today received their mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial Eve lived approximately 200,000 years ago. It is believed that she lived in Africa and from her all of the tribes of the world were created. Although, many races developed after some of her descendents migrated to other regions, all races have a connection because of this common ancestor.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is the nation's oldest private marine research laboratory. Woods Hole MBL participates in research such as cell and developmental biology, ecology, microbiology, molecular evolution, global infectious disease, neurobiology, and sensory physiology. Woods Hole apart from focusing on research has a number of educational courses and programs.

Monday, September 6, 2010

The Butterfly Effect is an explanation of how unpredictable large systems can be because even small changes can can have large ramifications. The name The Butterfly Effect itself draws from the notion that something as simple as a butterfly flapping its wings can change the wind patterns enough so that it may eventually cause a tornado. The Butterfly effect is also named the Chaos Theory because with such massive events theoretically stemming from such minute phenomena, it is impossible to predict anything that is effected by The Butterfly Effect.